Lake Dunstan: Kiwi Water Park an instant hit

Central Otago’s newest attraction opened yesterday and is already causing a sensation.

Located in Lowburn, on the shores of Lake Dunstan, the 10,000 square meters of inflatable equipment that make up the Kiwi Water Park was an instant hit, with hundreds of people flocking on opening day.

Two years in the planning, Kiwi Water Park is the brainchild of Queenstown businesswoman Emily Rutherford.

She had been based in London, organizing entertainment for large-scale events and had seen similar setups in places like Dubai, she said.

“I thought, ‘Wow. This would be amazing here in the summer.’

The idea stayed that way until earlier this year when the Covid-19 pandemic forced it.

“When Covid arrived, the events in London and Dubai were canceled.

“Before that, I was still working in London and couldn’t do it.”

Then his work dried up. “I spent locked up here with my mother planning this business.”

The equipment, imported from China, was “enormously expensive” and, although she did not want to put a dollar figure, it was in the range of “hundreds of thousands”.

Installation at Lake Dunstan had not been easy, as he had faced delays in shipping equipment from China and logistics had been more than he expected.

It took the work of professional engineers and the “largest crane in the region” to install 60 tons of anchor blocks, in addition to the need for workers, divers and excavators to install them, Rutherford said.

“It was a huge operation, much more difficult than it sounds.”

His resource consent was from December 1, but the logistics had caused some delays.

The Lake Dunstan site was chosen because it was only five minutes from Cromwell, 25 minutes from Wānaka and two and a half hours from Dunedin, he said.

“It is a good central location and the water temperatures are much warmer than Lake Wakatipu or Lake Wānaka.”

The water park is in deep water for safety and life jackets are required.

Rutherford planned to open for three months each summer and thought it would extend the resource consent beyond its expiration in 2026, he said.

How does it compare to other water parks?

The jury was still out, Rutherford said.

She was sure it was one of the largest in New Zealand, definitely the largest in the South Island, and she planned to add it every year to keep people coming back.